Andrew MacKenzie Holcomb, 31, beloved son of Christine (Brown) and David Holcomb passed away on Oct. 21, 2025, in Des Moines where he lived.
Visitation will be will be Nov. 16, from 1:30-3 p.m. at the Temple B’Nai Jerushun Des Moines with a funeral service and communion to follow. Family and friends are invited to stay for a meal immediately afterwards to celebrate Andrew’s life in the fellowship hall. Two of Andrew’s closest friends will be performing the service, Kelsey and Jacob Guckenberger, pastors of Christ Community Church.
Andrew was born in Tampa, Fla. where he lived until the age of seven when his family moved to Iowa. We remember Andrew as a man of strength, integrity, loyalty and caring with a huge desire to help people.
In his younger years, Andrew enjoyed karate, being in Boy Scouts, going to beaches, especially in Florida and being on the Mississippi River with his extended family.
Andrew helped his mother tremendously when his father David had cancer and was in home Hospice. Christine always said she didn’t know how she could have taken care of David at home for as long as she did without Andrew’s help.
Helping others was a theme throughout Andrew’s life whether pushing his father in a wheelchair, helping his grandparents and family members with all things tech related, helping aunts and uncles put boats in and out of the water, organizing cars on the car lot, helping cousins with their math or helping his friends with a fence, moving or anything else anyone needed.
Andrew had a love of everything motorized as he was born with oil in his veins like his mother’s family. Andrew loved automobiles (high performance and classic cars) and pickups. This interest led him to an Associate’s Degree from DMACC in Auto Collision Technology which he used with his careers in the automotive and insurance industries.
Some of Andrew’s many accomplishments include being on the Ames High School Swim Team, being awarded the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow, being the first to do the mile swim for his Boy Scout troop, and completing Platinum Pro Level 3 Certification for Auto Appraising and Estimating (among others) with I-CAR the industry standard, something not many people had completed at his young age.
Andrew is already very much missed by his mother, Christine Brown Elston; step-father; John Elston; grandparents, Katherine Brown, Marie Holcomb, Dave Brown Jr. (Mary Streich); bestfriends, Nick and Cheri Shoemaker who were like siblings to him; aunts and uncles, Betsy and Matt Busick (Elena and Anika), David and Linda Brown (Mac and George), Forest and Tina Brown (Reagan, Elliott and Delaney), Keith and Mary Holcomb (Michael, Rachel and family, Christina, Sr. Mary Josefa), Bernie Holcomb (Nate, Tristen and Jared) and special cousins, Tom and Karen Hamlett, Alexia (Jon and Leo), Austin (Mara and Bodie), Halicia, and Kristin (Nick).
Andrew was preceded in death by his father and his paternal grandfather, Paul.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Andrew’s name to Iowa Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) as Andrew loved kayaking and spending time on the waters of Iowa, Special Olympics of Iowa or the Guttenberg Family Resource Center in Guttenberg.
Thank you Andrew for your love and support over the years. We will miss you, especially your smile, until we see you again. Please watch over us in Heaven as our angel.
